A while back, I watched (Also covered these in the Recent Viewings thread, been meaning to post this for a while but didn't get a chance before):

FIRST MAN INTO SPACE (1959) - straight sci-fi turned into monster on the loose or is it? This film is an enjoyable mish-mash of horror and sci-fi from the late 1950s. Sure it does have some dull and unconvincing moments but I liked the look and design of the monster and the idea they eventually use to explain it. This was later, in essence, remade as THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN.

GREMLINS (1984) - a classic choice for a perhaps family friendly evening of dark comedy horror carnage depending on the sensibilities of the youth involved. I have to say I enjoyed this more in my younger days than I do now but you have to give this credit for being clever even if at times it seems a tad bit cruel and twisted and doesn't exactly place humanity in shining terms either. Still, this remains a fun film to watch especially during the Halloween season.

TALES OF TERROR (1962) - classic Edgar Allan Poe anthology film from Roger Corman plays up the exploitation element of shock and twisted perversity with its opening and closing tales standing out as being go for the throat trashy tales of horror while the second is more firmly in the realm of dark comedy and really in essence far more comedy than horror. Still with a cast of all-stars like Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, this delivers for fans of the macabre. This movie feels very much like a trashy horror shock comic book from the 1960s and 1970s. All in all, it’s more enjoyable perhaps than it should be.

THE DEMON (1981) - actually this film looks more like it was made in the late 70s and is very much a rip-off of popular slasher predecessors HALLOWEEN and BLACK CHRISTMAS. Cameron Mitchell is briefly in this one as an ex-Marine with ESP powers who's hired as a special investigator to track down a mysterious white-faced masked killer, a hulking man who wears a leather jacket and some type of claws on his hands as he stalks his prey. There are a few unexpected twists but this is for the most part a bore although it does have a lively climax featuring a woman in various states of undress being hunted through a large house by the demon killer.

NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957) - 1950s classic starring Dana Andrews as a scientist out to discredit and embarrass a devil cult leader named Karswell who doesn't take too kindly to the idea and places Andrews' character Dr. Holden under a demonic curse. Suddenly Andrews' character finds himself battling the inexplicable as we wonder whether he can escape the vengeful wrath of the demon who seemingly stalks him. Very enjoyable, classic 1950s British style horror thriller is perhaps one of the best of that era and highly recommended.

Over the last week or so, I've caught the following (also covered these in the Recent Viewings thread):

CARRY ON SCREAMING! (1966) - fun horror comedy spoof featuring many of the "Carry On" gang has an Addams Family-esque family living in a hideaway rest home carrying on House of Wax and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde shenanigans while the local bumbling police investigate the disappearance of several local girls. Most memorable bits involve Joan Sims as a nagging wife from Hell who makes our lead Sgt. Bung (Harry H. Corbett)'s life generally miserable, a voluptuous ghoul girl named Valeria (Fenella Fielding) constantly flirting with Sgt. Bung, her brother the zombified mad scientist Dr. Orlando Watt (Kenneth Williams) as a truly goofy fiend and a couple of Oddbod monsters on the loose who have a tendency for loosing body parts about the place plus a couple of memorable Hyde-like transformations.

THE MONSTER SQUAD (1987) - it's also great to see another take on the classic Universal Monsters and this one has them mixing it up with a group of kids in a monster club, the only ones who seem to know anything about the monsters' plans and how to stop them. On hand are Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, a Wolf Man, a Gill Man, and a Mummy (plus a couple of Brides of Dracula for good measure). Dracula is presented as a truly powerful menacing villain here which is a plus and the other monsters for the most part seem pretty threatening as well and most seem true to the roots of their characters at least as far as the classic movies go. There was a surprise twist or two with a couple of the monsters I initially didn't see coming and I was surprised at the violence of the climax. Tries to be for monsters what Ghostbusters was for ghosts and succeeds to some extent.

THE SKULL (1965) - Peter Cushing falls under the evil influence of the skull of the Marquis de Sade. Is it madness or is he a victim of possession? This one was an enjoyable mystery shock thriller that leaves you guessing as to how it will play out and doesn't pull any punches when it comes to delivering twisted surprises. One of the best from Amicus.

THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) - Wilbur Whately (Dean Stockwell) is determined to communicate with the Old Ones and plans a special ceremony in their honor with Nancy Wagner (Sandra Dee) as the main attraction. Nancy's friends Elizabeth Hamilton and Dr. Henry Armitage come searching for her but what dark menace lurks hidden away behind locked doors within the Whately house and what forces will it and Wilbur Whately let loose upon the world if they can? This one is somewhat arty and has a quasi-softcore feel to it at times which it perhaps to pad out what is in essence a rather simplistic and straightforward plot. There's the thing lurking behind locked doors but other that that, this one proves a disappointing loose adaptation of Lovecraft.

DIE, MONSTER, DIE! (1965) - Another loose Lovecraft adaptation, this one of "The Colour Out of Space", this one has some startling moments. It tells the story of a young man named Stephen Reinhart (Nick Adams) who reluctantly comes to the dark and foreboding Witley Mansion and grounds hoping to take his fiancé Susan (Suzan Farmer) away from there at the request of her rapidly deforming and severely ill mother. However Susan's father Nahum (Boris Karloff), a creepy wheelchair bound seemingly obsessed with something mysterious and known only to him, objects to Stephen's intrusion upon his dark domain. Meanwhile, startling screams are heard in the night, shocking deaths are witnessed, mysterious cloaked figures stalk the place and some mystery is being kept hidden both down in the basement and in the greenhouse. While this one ultimately proves more science fiction than outright horror, it definitely has its horrific moments. Karloff really helps rise this one a notch or two in terms of entertainment and the rest of the cast do pretty well too. The surprise in the greenhouse proves quite memorable as does some of the film's shocking transformations.

THE HOWLING (1981) - One of the very best werewolf films, this one delivers both serious horror thrills and some fun comedic moments. It stars Dee Wallace as reporter Karen White who's trying to set a trap for a serial killer named Eddie when her encounter with him proves so shocking it leaves him traumatized. She's sent along with husband Bill to a hideaway country resort nicknamed "The Colony" by her friend and therapist George Waggner (Patrick Macnee). The place however is inhabited by an odd assortment of characters perhaps the most notable of which is a nymphomaniac temptation for Bill named Marsha (Elisabeth Brooks). Meanwhile Karen's friends continue to research into Eddie and are shocked when his body disappears from the morgue. Eventually this leads them to delve into the legends and lore of werewolves and they, in time, stumble across some surprising connections between Eddie and other characters in the film. One of the most fun 80s horror films and certainly a terrific werewolf film that has all the traditional wolf man elements and a few werewolf folklore twists as well. The transformations here prove quite startling and the death of one character in particular stands out as being truly disturbing and scary. This also deserves points for making us care about Wallace's character Nancy and to empathize with her situation. Plus you've got to love all the familiar faces on board for this one, and the fun twist ending.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982) - Tom Atkins plays a doctor who witnesses a bizarre murder at his hospital. He teams up with the victim's daughter to investigate the cause - turns out some evil Halloween mask maker (Dan O'Herlihy) has cooked up a plot that's so ridiculous it's absolutely awesome! Great '80s atmosphere and weirdness, excellent performance from Atkins and especially the fiendish O'Herlihy; it just ain't Halloween until I've watched this movie. 4.5/5.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) - Mike gets out of the insane asylum and heads right back to Haddonfield, this time to try to kill the daughter of Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis' character from the first movie). So it's up to her adopted sister, played by Ellie Cornell, to protect her. And of course Donald Pleasence is hanging around to remind us that Meyers is "Evil, evil I tell you!!!" every 5 minutes. Cornell does a great job as the heroine, creating a very sympathetic character. And very easy on the eyes too. Other than that though, these Halloween movies just don't work for me. Meyers' mask looks more stupid than scary, and the way he'll stand there, even as he's about to get run over by a pickup, as if he's too cool to even try to get out of the way...whatever. And they've always got him standing in the background looking "ominous", never mind that everybody in the movie would have to be blind not to see him there. And of course he can seemingly teleport all over the place no matter how little sense it makes. Toss in the obligatory idiot who's got the perfect opportunity to blow Meyer's head off with a shotgun but, awww...forgot to put bullets in the gun. 3.5/5 and that's being kind of generous.

« Last Edit: October 29, 2012, 10:57:35 AM by Jack »

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“Any intelligent person knows that life is a beautiful thing and that the purpose of life is to be happy...But it seems only idiots are ever happy. How can we explain this?”

Film 27Attack of the Beast Creatures Almost to the end of this debacle! You know you're in for a special kind of movie when you cant find a single person involved in this project who ever worked before or after this. So the movie starts with a ship sinking and the survivors finding themselves on an island. They get to work trying to survive but run into a couple problems, namely an acid river that melt's one of them early on. Acid rivers aren't the only obstacles as it turns out the island is inhabited by Beast Creatures (a surprise to be sure!). These beast creatures turn out to be... Little tiny pygmy dolls!

This film is poorly shot, scored and acted and yet it manages to be entertaining due to those very flaws.The stilted first time acting mixed with the laughable script really makes this work as a b movie you can put on and laugh through with your friends. This film was as far as I know never released on DVD but thanks to the wonderful youtube it is not lost by the sands of time.

Film 27Attack of the Beast Creatures Almost to the end of this debacle! You know you're in for a special kind of movie when you cant find a single person involved in this project who ever worked before or after this. So the movie starts with a ship sinking and the survivors finding themselves on an island. They get to work trying to survive but run into a couple problems, namely an acid river that melt's one of them early on. Acid rivers aren't the only obstacles as it turns out the island is inhabited by Beast Creatures (a surprise to be sure!). These beast creatures turn out to be... Little tiny pygmy dolls!

I envy you, because I desperately want to see this movie. Thank you for the YouTube link. I'll be watching it there and still looking for a copy to add to the collection.

Ok so this month I have seen all kinds of ridiculousness, killer cats (the black cat), demon poodles (the boneyard), beast creatures (attack of the beast creatures) and even swamp things (the return of swamp thing". However a killer bulldozer may be the most ridiculous villain of them all, and that's exactly what this 70's made for tv film delivers. Ok so remember in the exorcist when the devil posessed that little girl? Well this is kind of like that only in this case a meteor possesses a bulldozer.

I had heard about this movie for a long time, and seeing its short length and availability on youtube I decided it was time to check this one out. Well I must say that this delivered all the killer bulldozer one could ask for, and some great comical dialogue. Take the following exchanges

Lloyd Kelly: How do you go about killing a machine?Dennis Holvig: A machine? It's too heavy to hang and it's too big to put in the gas chamber.

Lloyd Kelly: The truth is, we don't know anything for a fact.Dennis Holvig: Except that bulldozer kills.Chub Foster: Thats good enough for me.

Adding to the entertainment is these crazy electronic noises we get to hear every time the Killdozer appears. It sounds like what would happen if you poured coffee on R2-D2.

Film 29They (2002)Hard to believe I'm only 2 movies away from being done this ridiculous 31 horror in 31 days challenge. So I have had "They" on my shelf for quite a while having picked it up for cheap months ago. I'll get straight to the point, this movie sucks. It could very well be the worst movie I watched this month. It's perdictable, its boring, and the script is horrendous. According to imdb the script was worked on by as many as 10 people, and from the looks of this movie they made as well of made it 100. Completely bland and terrible it bears a "Wes Craven Presents" on the dvd cover. I would think Wes Craven would be ashamed but he topped this in terms of shear horribleness when he wrote the script for the abysmal "Pulse". It's a shame because he is still a good director IMO as shown by Red Eye and Scream 4 both of which I enjoyed a lot. So two more to go maybe I'll try to put some good movies at the end of this, but sometimes that is easier said then done. Dont watch They!!!!!!

Child's Play 2 (1990) - so Chucky is still after the little kid, who's now in a foster home. They did a pretty good job of making the doll look scary in this one, it's actually a good, cheesy horror movie. The big climax in the doll factory is a real hoot lol. 4/5.

The Curse of the Werewolf (1961) - a beggar serving time in a dungeon rapes a young girl, and she goes on to give birth to a little werewolf kid. The story is more of a drama than anything, as this guy tries to lead a normal life but he's got his little problem with killing people whenever the moon is full. Decent characters and although the plot is extremely slow moving it kept me entertained. 4/5.

Killdozer (1974) - the world's laziest construction crew runs their bulldozer into a weird rock - turns out it's a meteorite and now an alien blue light has taken over their big dozer! EEK! I really enjoyed this, watching the bulldozer raise and lower it's blade ominously, shift the blade from side to side ominously, and turn its headlights on and off. Ominously. The characters were these lazy whiny types, kind of reminded me of a class of adult fifth graders, and then you had Clint Walker as their very serious boss...wonderful '70s made-for-TV "horror" movie. 4/5. Thanks to fulci420 for reminding me of this forgotten "gem" lol

« Last Edit: October 30, 2012, 01:12:28 PM by Jack »

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“Any intelligent person knows that life is a beautiful thing and that the purpose of life is to be happy...But it seems only idiots are ever happy. How can we explain this?”

DeepStar Six (1989) - The late 80s gave us a few undersea movies, with Hollywood still relying on the tried and true "Alien" formula for at least a couple of them. Deepstar Six is a pretty decent example of late-80s action-horror (for which I suppose we can thank James Cameron and Aliens). An undersea work crew installing nuclear missiles on the ocean floor stir up a big, nasty crustacean.

I've only seen this one maybe three times since it came out. It's good and there are a couple of decent charaters, the best being Miguel Ferrer as the guy who keeps screwing up until he finally loses it. Apart from Ferrer, the cast isn't all that impressive - B.J. McKay, that guy from Riptide and a few others. In terms of characters, cast, believability and monster, I never liked DeepStar Six as much as I liked its direct competitor in 1989...

Leviathan - Peter Weller, Richard Crenna, Daniel Stern, Ernie Hudson, Hector Elizondo. With a cast like that, how can it not be a better movie? The story of an undersea mining crew stumbling across a failed Soviet genetic experiment makes more sense and seems a little more believable than DeepStar Six. Better written for sure, and with more of a budget. Besides the quality of the ingredients, these two movies borrowed from slightly different places. Both owe a lot to Alien, especially Leviathan's premise of investigating a sunken ship and bringing back something that infects a crewmember. However, where DeepStar Six reminds me more of Aliens (1986), Leviathan also has a great deal of The Thing in it. This monster hides inside people, takes them over, absorbs them, adding the even more unsettling detail that they retain their individual awareness of what's happening to them. Much more of a horror element in this one.

I more day till halloween and only 1 more movie to go after this. So I had heard things about this movie and knew about the twist ending, but I did not anticipate this movie being so insane! I always thought this was just another F13 cash in which in a way it is but this has a ton of strange and disturbing things going on. Firstly unlike the 30 year olds that usually pass for campers in these films we have kids of what appear to be between 11-13. Their youth doesn't stop them from swearing like sailors and trying to get laid however. Early on a chef who appears to be in his 40's talks about having sex with the children, which is pretty messed up! Next up we have a lot of homosexual under and overtones. None of the men/boys are wearing much clothes at all and the male counselors seem to be more interested in skinny dipping with each other rather than with the girls. Adding to the weirdness of this movie is how angry everyone in this movie is, they are nearly constantly screaming and fighting each other. So I went in expecting F13 and what I got was something quite a bit more subversive than I expected. The ending is still shocking and great tho, and a lot of it is pretty funny.

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) - in the far-off future of 1973, some people go to Mars (For those of you not familiar with astronomy, Mars is so far away that it's actually "beyond space".) Just before they leave to return to earth, an unwanted stowaway makes his way aboard, a big scary Martian dude. You certainly can't accuse our space pioneers of being unprepared for this however - they've got whole boxes of hand grenades as well as a bazooka, all of which they use while aboard their space ship. Man they used to build things to last back in the '50s. Of course none of it does any good, as the guy's rubber suit is impervious to their weapons. Most of the movie is spent with the monster on the lower levels of the ship, while our character fret about what to do on the upper levels. The final solution is, shall we say, not based in firm scientific theory. Characters were fairly undeveloped and the plot moved at a very moderate pace. But it managed to be interesting enough. 3.5/5.

Creature (1985) - some alien stuff is discovered on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, and both the US and Germany send ships to investigate. The American commander is a total douchebag and orders his ship to land before a proper survey of the surface can be completed. So the ship falls through a hole and is damaged beyond repair. But the German ship is in good shape, except there's a killer space monster aboard and the only human survivor is the perverted and rather nutty Klaus Kinski. So our good spacefarers spend the movie trying to decide what to do while battling the scary ol' critter. The characters in this were great, really well developed and likable. Story was pretty good too. It was just a bit cheesy to be taken seriously. Still a pretty fun watch. 4.25/5.

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“Any intelligent person knows that life is a beautiful thing and that the purpose of life is to be happy...But it seems only idiots are ever happy. How can we explain this?”